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1 of 253523 objects
Attributed to Vincenzo Leonardi (1589/90-1646)
Leg and feather of a white stork c. 1630-40
Watercolour and bodycolour over black chalk | 38.1 x 22.7 cm (sheet of paper) | RCIN 928739
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A watercolour depicting a leg and feather of an European White Stork. Ornithology was the aspect of the natural world that engaged Cassiano most deeply. He owned over two hundred drawings of birds, and wrote several short treatises on the subject. The white stork is one of the largest land birds in Europe. These details of the leg and feather were drawn for Cassiano at actual size; Cassiano also owned a drawing of the whole bird reduced in scale, to show these details in context.
Provenance
Commissioned by Cassiano dal Pozzo; from whose heirs purchased by Pope Clement XI, 1703; his nephew, Cardinal Alessandro Albani, 1721; from whom bought by George III, 1762 and thence by descent to King George V (dispersed from Royal Library between the two World Wars); London art market (most via dealer Jacob Mendelson); James R. Herbert Boone (American collector); bequeathed to Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore in 1983; Sothebyis New York, 16 September 1988; Queen Elizabeth II
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Creator(s)
Acquirer(s)
Commissioner(s)
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Medium and techniques
Watercolour and bodycolour over black chalk
Measurements
38.1 x 22.7 cm (sheet of paper)
Object type(s)
Other number(s)
RL 28739Featured in
ExhibitionAmazing Rare Things: The Art of Natural History in the Age of Discovery: The Queen's Gallery, Buckingham Palace
Drawings illustrating the development of European knowledge
